When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.
Interpretation
Seeking celebrity can make happiness dependent on external validation, leaving one vulnerable to others' opinions.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson reflects on the dangers of tying one's happiness to fame or celebrity. He argues that once a person feels that being well-known is essential for their joy, they become susceptible to the whims and malice of others. Instead of finding contentment within themselves, they allow external factors, such as the indifference or hostility of their peers, to influence their satisfaction and well-being.
In practice
During a motivational speech about self-worth, to emphasize the importance of inner happiness over public approval.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things - not the great occasions - that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.
To me, the message of my songs, of all songs, is "enjoy life." My message as a person who evidently doens't have much more planned is the same. It's the only message I ever thought art had any business having.
My formula for happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.
The man is happiest who lives from day to day and asks no more, garnering the simple goodness of life.
To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth. As long as one sorely needs a certain additional amount, that man isn't rich.
Our minds are as different as our faces. We are all traveling to one destination: happiness, but few are going by the same road.
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